Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov has dismissed Ukraine’s proposed peace plan and the latest UN proposals to revive the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
“It is completely not feasible,” Lavrov said of a 10-point peace blueprint promoted by Kyiv.
“It is not possible to implement this. It’s not realistic and everybody understands this, but at the same time, they say this is the only basis for negotiations.”
Sergey Lavrov
He stressed that the conflict would be resolved on the battlefield if Kyiv and the West stuck to that stance.
Lavrov added that Moscow left the Black Sea grain deal because promises made to Russia – including removing sanctions on a Russian bank and reconnecting it to the global SWIFT system – had not been met.
He said the latest UN proposals to revive that export corridor for Ukrainian agricultural products were “simply not realistic”.
Also, Lavrov accused Western powers of having entered direct fighting against Moscow through their support to Ukraine.
Lavrov told reporters in a briefing at the United Nations,“You can call it anything you want, but they are fighting with us, they are straight-up fighting with us.”
“We call it a hybrid war, but that doesn’t change things,” he added.
Lavrov pointed to the billions of dollars in Western military equipment provided to Kyiv since Russia invaded the country last year in February, as well as U.S and British intelligence support and the presence of Western military advisors.
The West is “de facto fighting against us, using the hands and bodies of Ukrainians,” Lavrov said.
“I think everybody present here who pays at least some attention to (…) the situation in Ukraine knows very well that Americans, Britons and others are fighting, first of all, through providing more and more weapons.”
Sergey Lavrov
Moreover, Lavrov accused the West of a neo-colonial mindset in its overtures to the Global South to gain support for Ukraine in the war.
Instead, Lavrov spoke of a “global majority” that was being duped by the West, which he described as an “empire of lies.”
Lavrov asserted that the rest of the planet is sick of it, adding, “They don’t want to live under anybody’s yoke anymore.”
He noted that this would show in the growth of such groups such as BRICS — the developing-economies coalition that currently includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and recently invited Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to join next year.
Second Shipment Of Ukrainian Wheat Reaches Turkey
In other developments, maritime traffic monitoring sites disclosed on Sunday, September 24, 2023, that a second shipment of Ukrainian wheat has reached Turkey via the Black Sea, despite Russian threats to attack boats heading to or from Ukraine.
Ukraine is testing a new sea route that avoids using international waters and follows those controlled by NATO members Bulgaria and Romania, following Russia’s withdrawal from a UN-backed grain export deal.
The Palau-flagged bulk carrier Aroyat – laden with 17,600 tonnes of wheat – left the port city of Chornomorsk on Friday, September 22, 2023, bound for Egypt.
According to the websites; Marine Traffic and Vessel Finder, the Aroyat was at the southern exit of the Bosphorus Strait at 03:00 GMT on Sunday.
It was to head towards the Dardanelles Strait to reach the Mediterranean.
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